Worldwide Interpreting Events to Visit in 2019

The job of the interpreter has many benefits and challenges for the practitioners and requires life-long learning and the desire to constantly improve your skills and the service you offer. Whether you work as a business interpreter, medical interpreter or you help deaf and hard of hearing people with sign language interpreting, you need to be aware of the latest tendencies in the industry and successfully apply them in your work.

There are several ways to improve the quality of the interpreting service that you offer. The approach includes taking online courses and webinars on topics that can help you polish or add new knowledge and skills. The other important step is visiting conferences and events dedicated to interpreting. You can choose between various events held in the USA and abroad and include only those in your calendar that are of particular use to your career.

How to Find Interpreting Conferences

Perhaps you are already familiar with some of the most important events in the sphere of interpreting and translation. There is also a chance that you are a member of certain organizations that hold and promote such events either at a local or more global level. The language service providers that you are working with may also organize their own workshops or webinars that promote further qualification of the interpreters and translators in the area. All of these options give you access to interesting events that can help you do your job better.

If you are interested in finding more conferences dedicate to interpreting in particular or language knowledge in general, you can check the following sites for more information:

This site provides detailed information on academic conferences worldwide. It is very easy to navigate and you can find tons of useful events. You have the option to search for events by topic or by country. You can also add an event to the Conference Alerts database for free and subscribe to receive notifications. Once you find the event you are looking for, you can follow the link that will provide you with all the details you need to know. The database of Conference Alerts contains both international and local events that can be of great use.

Even if you are not a member of ATA, you can still use their website to check the events organized either by them or by other organizations in the industry. There is a list of events for each month and an “additional information” link beside each event that you can follow for more details.

AIIC is the only global association of conference interpreters. It has more than 3,000 members from all over the world. It is not required to be a member of AIIC in order to open their website and find useful information in their blog, what are the possible career options or the upcoming events in the industry.

The Association publishes a calendar with all important interpreting events for the year that include training workshops, webinars, and conferences. You can keep an eye on the events and subscribe for participation in the ones that are the most relevant for your personal career development.

There are many other websites, forums or blogs dedicated to interpreting, translation, and linguistics that can also offer useful information about upcoming events in the industry. The three above are one of the most exhaustive sources of information that you can use, especially for bigger, international events worth attending.

If you are wondering which dates to save on your calendar this year, we have a few suggestions for events that take place in the USA and abroad that may be of interest for you.

Interpreting Events Held in the USA

As a starter, we will have a look at the various interpreting-related events that you can visit in the USA. You can choose between a great variety of training, webinars, and conferences depending on your needs and preferences.

CHIA’s 19th Annual Educational Conference

The California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) is organizing its 19th annual Educational Conference on March 8th-9th, 2019 in Sacramento. The name of the event is “CHIA, Forging the Way to a Gold Standard in Health Equity” and will follow its usual format with workshops on Friday morning and a keynote speaker on Saturday.

The call for proposals for presentations appeals to participants to share their knowledge in any of the following topics:

Applications of technology that improve access to care, interpreter training and on-the-job tools for working interpreters

Healthcare interpreting for ASL interpreters

CATI Annual Conference – Work Globally, Network Locally

The Carolina Association of Translators & Interpreters (CATI) will hold its annual conference on March 30th, 2019. The event will take place at the University of South Carolina and details about the topics and speakers will be announced on the site of the association pretty soon.

The keynote speaker at the conference will be Judy Jenner who is a Spanish and German business and Legal translator, and a federally court-certified Spanish interpreter. She will share her experience as a spokesperson for the American Translators Association and owner of a translation and interpreting company.

NAJIT 40th Annual Conference

The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters & Translators organizes their 40th Annual conference from May 18th-19th, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. There will be a pre-conference shop held on May 17th, 2019, as well.

The conference offers an innovative and dynamic way to learn the newest tendencies in the industry, meet with like-minded professionals, grow your network, and express your opinion in the discussion panels. More details about the event will be published in February on the site of NAJIT.

60th Annual Conference #ATA60

The American Translators Association will hold its 60th Annual conference in Palm Springs, California on October 23rd-26th, 2019. ATA has prepared a video to promote its conference and further details about the program will be published on its website in July 2019.

The event is open for interpreters and translators who want to share their latest developments and enlarge their network with peers in the industry. Anyone, who wants to present in the conference can submit their proposals from January till the beginning of March 2019.

Interpreting Events Held Outside the USA

There is a great variety of interpreting events that are organized outside the USA and at least a few of them shall make it to your 2019 conference schedule. Some of the most popular events to consider are:

AIIC Training of Trainers – Rome 2019 ToT

A training seminar organized by AIIC will take place in Rome, Italy between February 1st and February 4th, 2019. Raquel Schaitza and Julia Poger will be the leading trainers of the event titled “Feedback-giving: Honing our skills.”

The seminar will be interactive and will encompass both theoretical issues and practical examples related to the topic. The working language is English and some basic knowledge of French will help but is not necessary.

This is a two-day seminar led by Julia Poger that will take place in the Hague, the Netherlands on February 16th-17th, 2019. The aim of the event is to provide every interpreter with the necessary skills and tools to negotiate fees and improve their relations with clients and prospects.

What can you do to increase your chances of getting the job once you have targeted the client?

What should you avoid saying, or else the client may never hire you – or anyone else?

What phrase should always end your conversations with any client?

How do you increase your chances of earning what you are worth?

AIIC Canada: A Workshop on Legal Interpretation in a Bijural and Bilingual Context

AIIC Canada offers a practical course to all the interpreters in the judicial sphere who want to know what it is to work with this specific terminology in a bijural and bilingual context. The workshop will be held on February 16th, 2019, in Quebec, Canada.

Professor Louis Beaudoin will help practicing interpreters cope with issues related to their sphere of work and present principles and notions related to the French and English legal terminology. The workshop is open to all interpreters and there is a lower fee for AIIC members.

AIIC Greece & Cyprus invites all interpreters who are interested in the way digital technology affects our professional life to attend this two-day seminar in Athens, Greece. The event will be hosted by Royal Olympic Hotel on February 23rd-24th, 2019.

The forum is suitable not only for interpreters but also for professional conference organizers, event planners and technical solution providers who want to share their experience and insights about the new technologies in the industry. Besides, Athens is one of the popular conference destinations, so it will be an exciting overall experience to visit and enjoy the city.

The Impact of Interpreters on the Judiciary at National and International Level

The European Legal Interpreters & Translators Association (EULITA) organizes a two-day seminar at the Luxembourg Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg on March 28th-29th, 2019. The conference languages are English, French, Italian, Spanish, Czech.

The program features roundtables, discussions, and networking events that aim to bring the experts in the field together and allow them to share their experience.

AUC/SCE 1st Conference on Localization, Translation, and Interpreting

The American University in Cairo/School of Continuing Education will host its first conference dedicated to localization, translation, and interpreting. The event will take place in Cairo, Egypt on April 15th-16th, 2019.

The main focus of the conference will be on localization and it will feature topics such as:

Utilizing technology to harness support, while limiting its shortcomings.

Connecting with professionals in the industry.

The event will help the business and academia sit together and look for collaborative ways of working together in order to bring benefits to the industry.

The list of events is far from comprehensive but can serve as a base for the professionals in the field of interpretation who want to broaden their knowledge and learn about the new developments in the industry in 2019. You can choose the conferences and workshops that are the most useful for you and start planning your trip now.